Leave it to Atari to figure out a way to squeeze more money out of the old 2600 titles.

In the past remakes and reboots that Atari has tried over the years have had various degrees of success and failure. This time around we think Atari may be going to the well once too often.

Atari is planning with developer Salty Games to bring out an all new Asteroids reboot. The reboot which is planned to be called Asteroids: Outpost. Asteroids: Outpost is described as an open-world survival MMO. The game will take place in an open world sandbox environment where players mine, build and defend their bases.

The game will be a PC Exclusive, but we remain a more than a little unconvinced that this is little more than trying to use a reboot and tie it with the name of a well-known game of yesteryear and then cash it. It just seems more of a cash grab and then anything else. We just don't see Asteroids as a MMO.

The documentary that was being co-produced by Microsoft’s now no longer existing Microsoft Entertainment Studios, better known by the question that it answers has finally got a premier date on Xbox Live.

The documentary which is now called “Atari: Game Over” finally answers the question of what happened to all of those Atari 2600 ET cartridges and are the truly buried in a landfill? The only thing is that we sort of already know the answer as word leaked out about the “success” of the dig.

Atari: Game Over was part of a six-film series called Signal to Noise which was a project between Microsoft Entertainment Studios and Lightbox Entertainment. Lightbox Entertainment was founded by Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn.

Director Zak Penn has confirmed that the documentary will premiere on November 20th on Xbox Live. No word yet on how this will work, meaning is going to have a cost or will it be free? Despite some suggestions that you will only be able to watch it on Xbox One, out sources tell us that you will be able to see it on both the Xbox One and the Xbox 360.

We believe that the original intention was to have some “free” Microsoft programming and we think that this was part of this “free” programming. Given the current situation we are not so sure that it will be free, but since Microsoft subsidized the making of this documentary, it is possible that it still will be free to watch.

It is looking like the legend that Atari dumped thousands and thousands of cartridges in a New Mexico landfill have turned out to be accurate. The film being made about the dig has already produced pictures of film director Zak Penn holding an E.T. Cartridge online.

According to what has been learned via online postings and such, the dig has already found cartridges such as E.T., Centipede, Missile Command, and part of an Atari Joystick. In addition other evidence such as shipping boxes and packaging have also been found.

While some have suggested that the entire dig has been faked since Microsoft became involved in the project, we will have to wait till we see the finished documentary before we pass final judgment, but right now it looks pretty solid to us.

Atari has received approval for the bankruptcy plan that it submitted to a US Bankruptcy Judge. The plan has agreements with creditors to pay them back over the next three years. The agreement that Atari was able to reach with its creditors will see some paid back in full while others will only get a partial amount of what the claim to be owed.

Originally Atari was looking to sell of its catalog as well as its IP to pay off debts. The thing is that only 15 bids were received and Atari refused all of them. Atari did sell off several titles and some IP, but the majority of the money that it needs to raise is going to have to come from the firm generating new revenue and it will be interesting to see how that pans out for the company going forward.

Atari is looking to make another comeback. This time around it isn’t in the video game business, but instead with new skill-based games that feature themes from Atari games from the 2600 era.

Nostalgia sells and that is not lost on casinos who are looking to target the middle age audiences with first of which is a new skill-based slot machine themed with Atari’s Centipede. The slot machine was developed by International Game Technology and features the shooting of digital insects into money.

The game was shown at the casino trade show event in Las Vegas and it did seem to attract some attention according to the AP. After seeing the new Centipede machine, other manufacturers are looking to develop other skill-based games.

Web site and homebrew published has announced that Tempest for the Atari 5200 has finally been completed, after a wait that has spanned almost 30 years. Original Atari programmer Keithen Hayenga, who was responsible for the original Tempest prototype code programmed in 1984, finished the game with the help of a cast of several others who contributed to the final project.

It was announced in the Atari Age forums that Keithen Hayenga was going to finish the game some time back, but it was only recently unveiled that the game had finally been finished. Tempest for the Atari 5200 was considered to be THE holy grail of unfinished games for the Atari 5200 Super System. While prototypes of the Tempest code for the 5200 have been around for a long time, they only gave a glimpse of what the final product could be.

Those Atari retro fans will be please to know that Atari Age is going to be selling the finished game on their web site store shortly. The finished game will go for $50 plus shipping, and features the cartridge as well as the professional printed color box and user’s manual that matches the old Atari 5200 format. It should be available for purchase in the next couple of weeks.

Eden Games, developers of the bug-plagued Test Drive Unlimited 2 have announced a new free DLC package that is being released for the title. The DLC pack which is called “Exploration DLC pack” will add a number of events, cards, outfits, and most of all a ton of bug fixes for the title.

PC users are able to download the Exploration DLC pack today, while Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will get it soon. After reviewing the extensive number of fixes that the title is getting from this free DLC pack, we have to wonder how the title ever got to release in the first place.

Still, it looks to us that with all of the fixes, plus all of the new stuff that the developers have added, the game should be very playable once players get their hands on the DLC pack if it is able to deliver all of the fixes that are said to be included.

Atari has officially now confirmed that they are going to be reinventing the classic Star Raiders franchise with a new Star Raiders game to be released next year. The game is being developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, and currently it is unknown if it will be a digital download offering or retail box release; but the preference is for a digital download release.

Star Raiders was originally developed for the Atari 400/800 computer systems by Doug Neubauer way back in 1979, and a 2600 dubbed down release followed later on. (An Atari 5200 release based on the 400/800 release was also released.) Star Raiders on the 400/800 computers was very advanced and was designed to take advantage of the Atari 400/800 graphics to show off what the system could do in relation to the competitors, who didn’t have anything nearly as good at the time. More than one Atari 400/800 was sold just by seeing Star Raiders.

The new Star Raiders will be developed by Incinerator Games and the studio claims that it will include all of the space dog fighting, tactical battles, and energy management from the original. This promises to be different and will be based on what made Star Raiders great, rather than following the path of other sequels that never quite felt like Star Raiders.

Star Raiders joins Haunted House as the first two titles that are being overhauled from the old Atari days. A rumored Centipede offering is also said to be in development, but Atari has yet to confirm that this is the case. Atari is hopeful that these new reboots of old franchise titles will be successful so that other title releases can be planned. No additional release information was offered for the new Star Raiders title other than it will arrive early next year.

The upcoming release of Test Drive Unlimited 2 has been pushed out till the first quarter of 2011. Atari gave no reason for the delay of the title that is in development at Eden Games, beyond saying that the extra time will give the developers the ability to enhance the multiplayer experience that the game will offer.

From what we have been able to learn, Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be an online racing title that will push the title in a new direction from previous Test Drive releases. Atari is positioning the title as a M.O.O.R. game, which means massively open online racer. When it finally is released, the game will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC platforms.

Whispers that we are hearing suggest that the delay might be in part due to feedback that the developers have received; and the added time will allow for more revisions to the game that would not be possible with a release this holiday season. According to Atari and Eden Games, a beta will be announced for Test Drive Unlimited 2 at some point soon.

The news that Atari is working on a total revamped overhaul of the Atari 2600 title, Haunted House, was a bit of a surprise; and as we told you, the company was looking at other titles for potential remakes, as well. Apparently, they looked much closer than we were told, as we are now hearing that Atari is planning to revisit both Centipede and Star Raiders, as well.

For Centipede and Star Raiders, this isn’t the first time that a reinvention of these titles has been attempted. As for Star Raiders, this represents an interesting choice, as the Star Raiders II was never that well received and the canceled Star Raiders 2000 never was actually released using the Star Raiders branding on the Jaguar.

Centipede continues to this day to be one of the most popular games of all time, spawning multiple conversions on a variety of platforms. Star Raiders, on the other hand, was the game that launched Atari’s entry into the home computer market with the 400/800 models. The game on the 400/800/5200 was quite popular and never quite got the sequel that it deserved.

We are cautious about the popularity and chances for success with a Centipede remake; but Star Raiders, on the other hand, we think presents a rich potential for much success for a new re-imagined HD version of the title. No details have emerged on how soon we might expect these two offerings to arrive; but we expect a confirmation from Atari with an estimated release date before the end of the year if our sources are correct.